A Strange Twist Indeed
by little.tel
Summary: At the end of OotP, during the final fight sequence, what would it be like if Dumbledore took a little longer to step out of that fireplace. Rated T for death/murder.
1. A Strange Conversation

The End of a Struggle

**A Strange Conversation**

**Chapter One**

Harry wand wavered in his hand as he pointed it at the crazy woman lying on the floor in front of him. Bellatrix Lestrange lay crumpled at his feet as a result of the _crucio_ that he had just fired at her. She was at his mercy; with just a word he could kill her. She deserved to die for what she had done to Neville's parents, for what she had done to him.

"You've got to mean it Harry." Came a whispered voice. Harry knew that voice; it was the one that had haunted his dreams all summer long.

"She killed him." It was so coaxing and Harry felt himself yearning to give in to that voice.

"She deserves it." The voice was right she did deserve it.

"You know the spell Harry." The whispered fact made Harry think of why he knew the spell. It was such a simple spell and it had taken so much from him. Such simple words had destroyed his life.

Harry felt a presence twist around him and something inside of him coiled to answer it.

"Do it!" the voice sounded directly in his ear and the impatience in the voice caused Harry to turn around and look for the source. What he saw made his eyes widen. Only a few feet away from him stood the very Dark Lord that he had been fighting against almost all of his life.

Neither Harry nor Lord Voldemort moved. They merely stared at each other, one in surprise and fear and the other in anticipation and impatience. Bellatrix Lestrange lay where she had fallen to the floor behind Harry, completely forgotten by the two who stood before her.

After the silence had dragged on for few minutes and neither of them had moved the voice whispered in his ear, "Well Harry? Are you going to do it?"

Harry's head jerked back slightly in surprise at the sound of Voldemort's voice when he hadn't opened his mouth.

Voldemort smiled at his surprise and then asked, "Well?"

Harry blinked at Voldemort in confusion and managed to get his voice back enough to ask, "What?"

Voldemort rolled his eyes in annoyance as he said, "Really Harry, all of my information says you're rather bright." He paused and took a few steps around Harry so that he could see Bellatrix easier before he continued, "So will you accept my gift?"

"What gift are you giving me?" asked Harry. His guard was up, but he knew that he stood no chance against Voldemort in a duel. His last encounter with the Dark Lord had shown him that they were on different skill levels entirely. It would take him years before a duel between them would be anything less then a joke. He knew that the only reason why he had escaped last time was because of luck and the help.

"Why, my gift of Bellatrix Lestrange." said Voldemort as he gestured down to where Bellatrix lay looking up at them. "She's already at your mercy. I will not step in to save her, so you are free to decide her fate." He walked over to Harry till he was standing directly in front of him. He lowered his head till he was right next to Harry's ear and he whispered, "I know how much you loved your parents and Sirius. I also know how much you suffered under the hands of those muggles Dumbledore calls your relatives. Consider this my gift of apology for inadvertently putting you through such an awful life."

"And what about the deaths of my parents?" asked Harry in an argumentative voice as he took a step away from the Dark Lord.

"I think I suffered as a disembodied spirit long enough for their deaths." Said Voldemort with a slight hint of humor in his voice, as if he found Harry's attitude funny. He continued, "So do you accept my gift?" This time his voice brooked no argument and demanded an answer.

"I-" Harry looked from Lord Voldemort to the crazy woman who was now looking between him and the Dark Lord in terror. The sight of her completely terrified of the fact that he had been put in charge of her fate made him feel powerful and he found he liked the feeling. He looked back at Voldemort and looked him straight in the eyes as he said, "I accept."

Voldemort smiled at him and bowed his head slightly as he said, "As you wish, she is yours." He backed away from the two of them, but was halted before he got very far by Bellatrix clinging to the edge of his robe.

"No Master, no!" she cried in terror as she crawled closer to him. "Please! I'll do better. Don't let the filthy half-blood kill me!"

Harry saw a flash of anger in Voldemort's eyes at Bellatrix's words and when he spoke Harry could hear the anger in his voice.

"Silence." hissed Voldemort. "You killed your cousin Sirius Black. Harry defeated you while you were trying to flee. I will not stop him from destroying you if he so wishes."

"But…" Whatever plea Bellatrix had been forming died on her lips under the Dark Lord's angry glare.

Voldemort ripped his cloak from her grasp and turning back to Harry said, "She is all yours."

Harry nodded and stepped forward as he pointed his wand at Bellatrix. "This is for killing my godfather." Harry's voice was deeper then normal when he spoke. His hand was steady as he held his wand. "_Avada Kadavra_."

As he spoke those two words a bright green light shot from the end of his wand and hit the cowering woman before him. She managed a mangled scream before the light hit her and she became silent forever. For a few moments after he uttered the killing curse Harry's eyes glowed a brilliant green.

A slow clapping sound echoed through the hall and Harry turned to see Voldemort giving him a small smile.

"I didn't think you'd be able to pull that off." said Voldemort with that smile still on his face. "It takes an awful lot of anger and hate to use that curse the first time. I wonder just how much rage you've had to bottle up in the past few years."

Harry shrugged his shoulders as he said, "It felt really easy."

"Really." said Voldemort with a raised eyebrow. "You know, you could very well be on the same level as me in a few years," he paused, "that is, if you got the proper training. If you keep learning at the rate you re at Hogwarts, you'll never reach your potential."

"You sound as if you want me to reach my potential." Said Harry, once again slightly confused. "I thought you wanted to kill me."

"Why would I want to do that?" asked Voldemort with another raised eyebrow.

"You've tried to kill me every year since I started school." Said Harry incredulously. "How are you saying that you don't want to kill me?"

"If I wanted to kill you I would have done so." Said Voldemort. "Besides I never really threatened your life. In your first year I offered you a chance to join me and tried to get the sorcerer's stone."

"You told Quirrell to kill me."

"I was angry, sometimes I say things I don't entirely mean. Quirrell wouldn't have killed you, he was just trying to get the stone for me."

"What about my other years?"

"In your second year that wasn't really me, that was my past self. I suspect that he had gone slightly crazy from being inside of that diary for so long. In your third year you didn't actually fight me. All of your trouble from that year was because of your godfather, Peter Pettigrew, and the Dementors. And last year that entire duel was to test your skills. Though I must admit I did not expect our wands to connect in such a way. I never intended to kill you." Voldemort spoke matter-of-factly and Harry realized that everything he had said was true.

"What about Cedric Digory?" asked Harry.

"Oh, the other boy last year. He should have never made it to the center of the maze. I had to kill him to keep my return a secret."

"But I saw you return."

"Yes," Said Voldemort, "but almost no one believed you, did they?"

Harry opened his mouth to say something but he couldn't think of anything so he closed it again and simply nodded.

"What now?" asked Harry.

Voldemort began to reply, but was cut off by one of the fireplaces along the sidewall bursting into fire and Dumbledore stepping out of the green flames.

"It was foolish of you to come here tonight Tom." Said Dumbledore as he walked towards them, his wand held ready at his side. He spotted the dead body of Bellatrix lying splayed out on the floor between Harry and Voldemort, Harry's wand held tightly in his hand at the ready.

"Harry, did you kill her?" asked Dumbledore, his voice filled with worry.

"Honestly Dumbledore," said Voldemort loudly, drawing Dumbledore's attention away from Harry, "you really don't trust him do you? You see one dead body and you instantly think your Golden Boy did it, even though I, a known murderer, stand right here." Voldemort waved his wand at Dumbledore in a scolding manner, "Really, I don't understand why he hangs around with people who don't trust him."

"I'm sorry Harry." Said Dumbledore in apology. "I shouldn't jump to such wild conclusions." He turned back to Voldemort and asked, "So how did she die?"

"She had failed me too many times." Said Voldemort simply.

"The auroras are on their way." Warned Dumbledore, his voice filled with relief at Voldemort's words.

"By which time I shall be gone, and you shall be dead." Said Voldemort as he backed a few paces away from Harry.

Before Harry could even blink he felt himself pushed to the side by a spell from Dumbledore. He watched in awe as the two spells Voldemort and Dumbledore fired at each other hit and connected.

Harry covered his head with his arms as one of Voldemort's spells hit the wall above his head.

"Sorry about that," Said Voldemort's voice in Harry's ear with a slight chuckle, causing him to jump slightly, "but I have to make Dumbledore think I want to kill you after all."

Harry decided not to say anything in response to that and simply continued to cover his head as Voldemort blew more of the tiles above him to bits.

As he watched, Voldemort created a ball of fire, which morphed into a gigantic fiery serpent that attacked Dumbledore. Dumbledore destroyed the snake and sent the fire flying back at Voldemort, who made it disappear. While he was distracted, Dumbledore captured him in a floating sphere of water.

As Dumbledore struggled to hold Voldemort Harry got to his feet and staggered to stand behind Dumbledore. Suddenly Harry felt himself pushed back once again by a spell from Dumbledore and he fell to the ground. Voldemort used Dumbledore's lapse in attention to break free of the watery prison and then attack with a blast of pure dark magic. Dumbledore managed to reflect the magic back at Voldemort only to have him collect it and then release it all in one gigantic blast.

The blast sent Dumbledore to the floor and both he and Harry covered their heads as all of the windows in the hall exploded. While Dumbledore was struggling to stand, Voldemort sent the broken glass flying over his head like a million tiny daggers towards where Harry and Dumbledore still lay. Dumbledore managed to get to his knees just before the first of the glass reached them. He created a giant shield and as the shards flew through it, they turned into nothing but sand.

Harry covered his head once again as a giant wind blew the sand at him. When the sand stopped he looked up to see Voldemort still standing with his wand ready to attack. Then his arms dropped to his sides and he took a few steps back away from them.

Suddenly the sand swirled up from the ground to circle around him, it then dropped down, just as quickly as it had come up, to reveal nothing where Voldemort had stood a second before.

Harry gasped as he felt something strange enter his mind. A twinge of pain raced through him and he collapsed to the ground. His breath kept catching in his throat, he felt as if his blood was on fire, and his eyes glowed a brilliant green.

"I apologize for this as well." Whispered Voldemort's voice inside his mind. " Put on a good show for the old man, will you?" The voice paused to read his thoughts and then said, "Good."

Harry looked up slightly to see Dumbledore kneeling in front of him with a worried expression on his face.

"You've lost old man." Said Harry, but his voice came out a mixture of his own and Voldemort's.

"Neat trick, isn't it?" said Voldemort's voice in Harry's head. He read Harry's agreement and chuckled slightly, "Don't go to far with your act, or else Dumbledore might try to kill you to kill me." Voldemort read Harry's agreement once again and chuckled a little more.

Dumbledore leaned in closer, but jumped back slightly as Harry's head started jerking back and forth on the floor. Harry thrashed as if he was in pain as Voldemort's voice chuckled quietly in the back of his mind, clearly enjoying the show.

"Harry…" Dumbledore's voice died in his throat as Harry continued to writhe in pain.

"You're so weak, right now," Whispered Voldemort's voice, "so vulnerable. You need proper training." Voldemort could read Harry's agreement and then added, "You should end this charade now." A mental nod was Harry's only response.

"Harry, it isn't how you are alike. It is how you are not." Said Dumbledore, obviously trying to help him fight off Voldemort's control. His voice was filled with worry, "Harry."

Harry saw his friends standing behind Dumbledore and said, "You're the weak one. And you'll never know love…or friendship. And I feel sorry for you."

"You don't really mean that do you?" asked Voldemort's voice. Harry gave the mental negative and Voldemort said, "Oh, that's alright then. You may continue." After a pause he added, "Nice acting skills."

Harry thrashed on the ground a little more and cried out in pain as he turned over so that he was lying on his back. Suddenly the sand swirled up around him to form a column as Voldemort left his body in the form of pure black magic. Time seemed to freeze as Voldemort rematerialized above him.

The two stared at each other for a moment before Voldemort gave him a small smile and said, "You're a fool Harry Potter. And you will lose…everything."

"I don't really mean that." whispered Voldemort's voice in Harry's ear. "Though I think I will consider you a fool if you don't try to expand your education some more." Added the voice with a small chuckle. "Oh," he added still chuckling, "you might want to pass out or something so that you don't have to deal with the press once all of this is over."

A series of _whooshing_ noises drew Voldemort's attention away from Harry to the Minister of Magic and the group of auroras that had just arrived. Without another word he straightened and the frozen column of sand swirled to life once more and he vanished in its center.

"He's back." Exclaimed the Minister in shock.

Harry watched his friends hurrying over to where he was and Dumbledore reaching out for him. He then decided to take Voldemort's advice and used the only silent spell he knew to make himself pass out.


	2. A Strange Proposition

A Strange Proposition A Strange Proposition

**Chapter Two**

Harry paused in his packing as he brushed some sand off of the jacket that he had been wearing when he'd had his confrontation with the Dark Lord. That confrontation still had him confused.

Voldemort had completely thrown him and now he had no idea as to what he should do. The fact that he had used the _Avada Kadavra_ curse didn't help matters either since now he was also questioning just how different he was from Lord Voldemort. And that train of thought led him right back to the fact that Voldemort had held a conversation with him rather then killing him. To add to everything he found that he couldn't be angry with Dumbledore anymore for ignoring him all year since he'd explained his reasoning to him. The prophecy was another thing that had him worried. He didn't like the fact that it said neither he nor Lord Voldemort could live while the other survived. So, all in all, he was extremely confused.

"Harry."

Harry jerked backwards so fast that he tripped over his trunk and fell to the floor.

"W-what?" gasped Harry. "H-how…"

"Harry," chuckled Voldemort's voice inside his mind, "we are connected. I can speak to you anywhere."

"Why would you want to?" asked Harry as he stood back up.

"You're rather amusing." Said Voldemort and Harry got the image of Voldemort smiling in amusement. "And," he added, "my death eaters are mostly incompetent idiots."

"So they're not the best company?" asked Harry wryly as he resumed his packing.

"Definitely not." Said Voldemort in agreement. "Except for Snape. He's intelligent enough to hold his own in a conversation. Though it is quite annoying that I can't ever tell what he's thinking. He's a true Slytherin in that respect."

"I don't like him." Said Harry matter-of-factly. "He thinks of me as my father, so he treats me like him as well."

"Yes, Snape does have a few problems with letting go of the past." Said Voldemort and Harry got the image of him nodding his head in understanding.

"What do you want with me?" asked Harry in a tired voice.

"I told you," said Voldemort with a chuckle, "you're my comic relief after a long days work."

"I'm serious." Said Harry. "You could have killed me and you didn't. You gave me the opportunity to kill Bellatrix, and I actually killed her. Then you covered for me with Dumbledore. Why?" By the time Harry had finished he had worked himself into a small rage.

"I didn't kill you because I didn't want to, I never really have since I tried to that one time when you were a baby. I gave you the opportunity to kill Bellatrix because you had earned it, and I cannot tell you why you accepted my offer, only that I hoped you would. And I covered for you with Dumbledore because you need to make a decision without any outside influence."

"What decision?" asked Harry.

"I'm going to make you an offer." Said Voldemort. "Instead of going to live with your relatives this summer, you come and live with me."

"What? But you're my enemy!" exclaimed Harry as he dropped the book that he had been about to pack.

"Am I really?" asked Voldemort. "I guess you've been told by everyone that it is your task to defeat me. I personally feel as though it is Dumbledore that I am fighting against, not you."

"Then why did you try to kill me when I was little?"

"Because of that prophecy that I was trying to get a hold of. I knew that if you lived Dumbledore would try to use you in his fight against me."

"So why did you choose to mark me, instead of Neville?"

"I chose you partially because you reminded me of myself, in that you were a half-blood. I also chose you because your parents were already in line to be killed anyway. I didn't know you'd have to go through live with those horrible muggles, If I had, I think I might have marked the Longbottom boy." Said Voldemort in a thoughtful voice.

"You really don't like muggles, do you?" asked Harry as he closed the lid of his trunk and locked it.

"I don't have any reason to." Said Voldemort as if he was pointing out a fact. "Every encounter I've ever had with muggles, tells me that they're extremely dumb and cruel. You yourself have seen that to be true."

You can't judge all muggles from a select group of them." Said Harry. "Just like you can't judge all witches and wizards from a select group. For example, some muggles are extremely nice and smart, just like some witches and wizards. Your death eaters aren't very nice and from what you've told me, most of them aren't that smart."

"I thought my information was correct in saying you were bright. I'm glad you proved it." Said Voldemort with a small chuckle. "So what do you think of my offer?"

"I don't know." Said Harry, his voice full of indecision.

"Think about it. Go to your relatives, I'll contact you in a week or two, and you can give me your answer then."

"Alright." Agreed Harry. "What will you do if I say 'no'?"

"I'll hope you'll take my offer up next summer."

"And if I saw\y 'yes'?"

"I'll arrange to pick you up and bring you to my home, where I can show you how to reach your true potential."

"What if I want to leave?"

"I'll give you a certain kind of portkey, which will take you anywhere you want it to as long as you say the password and the name of the place."

"What will your Death Eaters think about this plan of yours?"

"I won't be telling any of them, but Snape. His potions skills will be a great asset to your education."

"Really." Said Harry in a sarcastic voice. "Because I've barely learned anything from him in all of my time at school."

"Which means your potions skills are probably lacking and we will need to fix that."

"Why do you want to help me?" asked Harry in an exasperated voice.

"While you're staying with me you can learn my side of the battle and then, once the summer is over, you can go back to Hogwarts and see Dumbledore's side of the battle with new eyes. Then you can decide which side you want to be on or if you don't want to pick a side at all."

"And why do you want to give me such a decision, when it would be so much easier to kill me?" asked Harry, still rather confused by Voldemort's behavior.

"I don't want to kill you Harry." Said Voldemort exasperatedly. "I merely want you to make an informed decision. I believe that if you knew my side of the story, you'd either join my side or stop fighting completely. And despite my reputation, I am not a bloodthirsty psychopath."

"I'll…think about it." Said Harry.

"Very well. If you wish to ask me a question, simply think really hard about our last encounter and I'll answer."

"Okay." Said Harry, still uncertain about this whole thing.

"I shall hear from you in a week or so then." Said Voldemort and Harry got the image of him waving. "Good-bye Harry Potter, till later." And then he was gone.

Harry could actually feel an empty space where he had been. Sighing he flopped backwards onto his bed and looked up at the ceiling. He was still slightly confused, but he was sure of one thing. No matter what, this summer was going to be an interesting one.


End file.
